Some Monterey County schools ‘safe havens’ for immigrant children

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Students from Alisal High in Salinas marched from campus on Williams Road in November protesting the presidential election. Some Monterey County educators have tried to assuage community fears by declaring some school districts to be “safe havens.” (Vern Fisher – Monterey Herald)

SALINAS >> In an effort to assuage community fears, education leaders throughout Monterey County recently began taking steps to protect undocumented students and their families.

Trustees at the Alisal Union and Salinas City Elementary school districts have approved resolutions designating their schools as “safe havens,” which reflect the policies that sanctuary cities have adopted.

Hartnell College trustees will be considering one in February. Monterey Peninsula College, along with CSU Monterey Bay and the entire CSU system, have vowed not to release students’ confidential information without court orders.

Students and families “were telling us they were fearful, specifically the day after the election,” Salinas City Elementary Superintendent Martha Martinez said Wednesday. “We deal with children and the perception was that ‘something’s going to happen to me right now.’ We have over 90 percent Latino families, over 50 percent English learners. Most people in this area are immigrants coming from Mexico. They’re fearful, they don’t understand the process, that people don’t just show up at your doorstep. We want to show that our schools are a safe place for them.”

Monterey County has one of the largest concentrations of undocumented immigrants in California, although schools do not collect information on the immigration status of their students.

Young men and women are wooed by the area’s available jobs in agriculture and hospitality, two of the largest industries in the region. And even though there has been intense lobbying efforts to reform immigration laws, there are still an estimated 11 million undocumented people in the United States.

On the Central Coast, the most recent estimate places the undocumented population at 62,000 in Monterey and San Benito counties – 13.5 percent of the population, or the highest share of any other region in California.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed executive actions to build a wall on the Mexican border and to end funding for sanctuary cities. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a statement saying the Department of Justice is prepared to defend all people in the state.

Similarly, school officials are invoking the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, also known as FERPA, in defending their decision not to turn over any of their records to authorities — unless they have a court order.

“MPC will not cooperate with any federal effort to create a registry of individuals based on any protected characteristics such as religion, national origin, race, or sexual orientation,” Monterey Peninsula College Superintendent Walter Tribley wrote in a guest column for The Herald. “MPC will not release confidential student records, including information related to immigration status, without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, unless authorized by the student.”

Top administrators at Hartnell College have been working for years to ensure undocumented students feel protected, Superintendent Willard Lewallen said Wednesday. As example he cited Mi Casa, the resource center for students known as Dreamers because they benefit from in-state tuition through legislation known as the Dream Act.

“The resolution is going to affirm what we’ve already said, and what we’ve already done,” Lewallen said. “A lot of colleges around the county and California have adopted resolutions related to Dreamer students, and the resolutions are fine, but for us at Hartnell we feel really good because we’re really ahead of the game. We have our Dreamer center. Actions to me are more important that words.”

Although there’s no talk of passing a safe haven resolution at the Salinas Union High School District yet, administrators recently organized an immigration forum at Alisal High to help parents understand what could be happening in the following months, said Christopher Cambern, director of English learner and migrant education programs.

“We had over 500 people,” he said.

Last month, California Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson urged school districts across the state to approve “safe haven” status in their schools to send a message that students would be protected.

“Unfortunately, since the presidential election, reports of bullying, harassment, and intimidation of K-12 students based on immigration status, religious, or ethnic identification are on the rise,” Torlakson said in a letter distributed to county and school district superintendents, charter school administrators and principals.

At the Alisal Union School District, fears expressed after the election prompted officials to approve a resolution ahead of the Jan. 20 inauguration. Administrators wanted to assure families that school are a safe place and prevent absenteeism.

“The day before the election, it was reported to me that students were expressing anxiety. At school they were crying that they’re going to be deported,” Superintendent Héctor Rico said, adding that parents were calling to find out whether they should even be sending their children to school.

On the Monterey Peninsula, top administrators with Carmel, Pacific Grove and Monterey Peninsula Unified school districts last week sent a letter to all families, pledging to serve all students regardless of “immigrant status, ethnicity, race, religion, sexual orientation, ability, sex and gender identity, socio-economic status or beliefs.”

District officials are still considering whether to adopt a safe haven resolution, but they decided to send the letter to make sure students and families feel supported.

“We got the letter out while we’re reviewing this resolution to communicate clearly to the school community that we’re supporting our students, that they have rights to privacy and that we’ll uphold those rights and that our emphasis is on providing a positive, safe, enriching environment every day for all our students,” MPUSD Superintendent PK Diffenbaugh said Wednesday. “At this particular time, there’s some students who are scared and they’re scared for themselves, scared for family members and others, and I think as educators we have to listen to our students and respond to their concerns. For many of our students, their concerns are very real.”

Even if districts approve resolutions in support of their students, schools have to allow entrance to authorities if they have a court order. Still, the resolutions of support are good symbolism, immigration supporters say.

“It’s useful because we don’t know what the administration is going to do,” said Cesar Lara, executive director of the Citizenship Project in Salinas.